Brands will be 'crucial' to success of Google+ - IPA Scotland president

Murray Calder, president of IPA Scotland and director of MediaCom Edinburgh has said that brands will be ‘crucial’ to the success of Google+ in the long-term.

Assessing his the role of brands, which have been banned from having their own dedicated pages on the social networking platform so far, Calder said that Google’s strategy of ensuring that they maintain a platform for ‘real people’ is ‘a smart’ one.

“Especially for the average user, the key reason to add Google+ to their repertoire of online spaces will be whether there is enough interesting and relevant content to keep them interested. While some of us might find the early-mover tech and marketing chat interesting, people in the real world are more interested in relevant, useful content which, for the most part is produced (or at least facilitated) by brands,” commented Calder.

“Is a bit of a chicken and egg question,” continues Calder. “Brands will only go where there is a critical mass of potential customers and those customers will only use a platform where there is sufficient entertaining, interesting or useful content, mostly provided by their favourite brands. However, in the short term, a focus on getting the consumer proposition and interaction right feels like a good move.”

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